


Proving the Type

by lalalyds2



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AoS Rarepair Exchange 2018, F/F, Fluff, Pining, Pipsy, angst of the 'does she like me or does she like-like me' variety, but not really any spoilers, kind of after season 5, useless baby gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 20:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16817905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalyds2/pseuds/lalalyds2
Summary: It came through the grapevine.Or simply Mack reenacting Deke’s anesthesia-induced ramblings at dinner and somehow that tidbit came through."She’s not my type, but I get it."Well, Daisy didn’t get it. Not Piper’s type? Rude.She can be Piper's type.  But first she's got to find out what it is.





	Proving the Type

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the AoS Rarepair Exchange 2018! I hope you enjoy it, I had a lot of fun writing this. :)

It came through the grapevine.

Or simply Mack reenacting Deke’s anesthesia-induced ramblings at dinner and somehow that tidbit came through.

_She’s not my type, but I get it_.

Well, Daisy didn’t get it.

Not Piper’s type?

Rude. But oh well.

It wasn’t going to bother her.

It wasn’t.

She was a grown-ass, earth-quaking, _May-trained_ woman. She wasn’t going to let a certain agent’s nonchalant rejection faze her.

Because it wasn’t like she noticed whenever Piper laughed it made the corners of her eyes go all crinkly, or when she was tired she’d cover her mouth with a fist and it made her look so innocent and soft, or even when she’d train with other agents and her shoulder muscles would flex...

Dammit.

If she wasn’t Piper’s type, Piper was certainly hers.

What cruel irony, discovering she had a thing for this woman only after being dismissed as “ _not my type_.”

Well, she could change that—she would!

Maybe.

First, she had to find out what Piper’s type was.

~*~

“Nice shot.”

She leaned against the brick wall in a totally relaxed, not at all practiced move. She even quirked up the corner of her mouth which she’d been told (two boyfriends and a girlfriend ago) was attractive.

Piper just smiled.

“Thanks.”

And that was that, nothing added.

She would have to try harder.

“Practicing for any particular reason?”

Just a shake of the head this time.

Feeling the awkwardness starting to seep in her bones, she tried one last time.

“Hey, I was wondering if, after this, you’d spar with me?”

That gave Piper pause. She put away her gun a little slower.

“I mean, sure, but wouldn’t Yo-Yo be a better partner?”

Thankfully, Daisy had an answer to that.

“Nah, I wanna practice without powers. Can’t rely on them all the time.”

She shrugged in agreement.

“Okay. I’ll meet you in fifteen.”

Daisy nodded with a smile and gracefully left.

It was only in the hallway she allowed herself a mental fist bump.

She was getting somewhere.

~*~

That somewhere was the floor.

She groaned as she got knocked down again.

Piper hovered over her, the overhead lights haloing around her head like some relentless and smirking angel.

“That’s three. I’d thought you’d be more of a challenge, Miss Destroyer-of-Worlds.”

And she even had the nerve to be laughing at her. How rude and unprofessional and hot.

Never mind.

“Well you’re not a world.”

She grinned in personal victory as Piper laughed. “I thought you were a sharpshooter, not the May of beating me.”

“Well who do you think taught me?”

She smiled at that but felt a pang in her chest. Piper noticed and collapsed next to her on the mat.

“Tired too?” Daisy deflected and felt rather than saw Piper’s nod.

“How do you think they’re doing?”

She shrugged. She could only guess, and she didn’t want to.

A warm hand settled on her arm, just above her wrist, igniting all her senses to just that point.

“Hey,” the softness prompted her to look, and suddenly she realized just how close they were.

Just a breath away from Piper’s pert nose and encouraging gaze and nicely pink mouth.

Oh no.

“They’re gonna be fine.”

“Mmhmm.” She didn’t mean to sound so skeptical, but she was rather suddenly distracted.

Piper propped herself up on an arm, her hand still gentle on Daisy’s.

“They’re going to be fine. They’re May and Coulson.”

Another pang.

Daisy’s words were barely a whisper.

“But when they left it was so... final.”

“It felt final when LMD May blew up the base, or when Aida became a real and crazy powerful Inhuman, or when you all went to friggin space.”

Piper grinned as she finally laughed a little. “My point is, nothing’s final. Not for this team. Not for us.”

She gave Daisy’s arm a little squeeze, and warmth blossomed all throughout Daisy’s body and settled deeply into her chest. Nestled right there between her lungs, her heart jumpstarted.

“Thanks Piper.”

“You’re welcome.”

And they just stayed there, eyes open and searching, if she leaned just a little bit forward and a little bit up they would be kissing and—

And Piper stood up.

She barely suppressed what would have probably been a whine.

“Alright,” Piper said, stretching a hand out. “Let’s get back to training.”

Daisy laughed and let herself be hauled up.

“Now you sound like May.”

Piper winked, and Daisy was floored again.

“That’s the dream. Now let’s go.”

~*~

They kept training together throughout the week, till it became routine. And Daisy noticed Piper start to pop up in places she hadn’t before.

The days Daisy wasn’t actively seeking her out, she’d see Piper anyway. Somehow her coffee breaks would coincide with Daisy just about to get lunch, or she and Davis would be joking in the halls as Daisy passed by, or she’d just magically appear whenever.

It was nice.

Daisy wasn’t sure just when she noticed how intertwined their routines were or even how coincidental it was, but she knew she liked it.

Missions and the right afters were her favorite. Since Mack was director and didn’t go on as many missions, Piper had been reassigned as her partner.

She would call it luck, but Mack’s smile gave it away (he would later receive a very strong punch on the arm, but she was still grateful).

They developed a rhythm that worked. Piper always had her back, and she had Piper’s.

Sometimes it was up to Daisy to make the fast calls (General Hale has done a lot to shatter Piper’s confidence in decision-making), but truly, they worked well.

It was corny, and cliché and Daisy would never say it out loud, but they’d become the perfect puzzle pieces. They just fit. 

And the right-after-missions hangouts, those were the best. If it went well, they’d share drinks and laugh at funny memories. Piper may not have been flung out in space, but her stories from earth were just as crazy (never let Davis use a chicken disguise again. _Ever_ ).

And when missions went south, Piper would make hot chocolate, and Daisy could swear the concoction was just as magical as any Inhuman ability.

She would ask for the recipe, but she didn’t want to ruin it by knowing ingredients. All she knew was that drinking it was like drinking a hug.

And sometimes, Piper would make it even when they didn’t go on missions, and that was her favorite of all.

One time, they were on an undercover mission as tourists in Greece and Piper refused to name it anything other than Operation: ABBA and pretend-drunk sang Dancing Queen at the top of her lungs so they could infiltrate the enemy’s bar.

Daisy was still chuckling even as she waited with the zip-tied villains for extraction.

Another mission, they were just doing surveillance in Barcelona, but their cover was almost blown. So Piper had hauled her up close, a hand on her neck and around her waist, whispering through clenched teeth for Daisy to do the same.

So she had, and her thumb brushed against the smooth expanse of Piper’s cheek and felt solid muscle under leather and they had been so close their lips could have touched if one of them just said something, anything.

But the threat had passed, and Piper let go of her as if stung, and they’d ridden all the way back afterwards in complete silence.

Daisy cursed the men who couldn’t have kept their gaze on them a little longer, she cursed the fact Piper had let go, and she cursed herself for getting so affected.

When on real missions, her side mission to get Piper to like her was on hold.

It wasn’t even a mission anymore.

She knew Piper liked her, but did she _like her_ -like her?

As middle-school as it sounded, it was something Daisy was dying to know.

Because she loved Piper. She was in-love with Piper. And she was damn tired of not being her “type.”

So even if it was a little middle-school, she’d keep trying to figure it out.

The problem was how.

~*~

After a day or two, they’d gone back to normal, and Piper acted as if nothing had happened.

So that’s what Daisy did too.

But weeks later and there were no new signs or revelations or even hints that Piper viewed her as anything more than a friend.

It was torturous.

It was so easy to laugh at Piper’s snark, it so aligned with her own. Piper told the funniest stories too, both hands and arms gesturing wildly as she got into it. And her eyes, they were so open. They made Daisy want to confide in her, and when she did, Piper reciprocated.

Those moments were protected, somehow. A little oasis of calm and connection against the crazy chaos they called their lives.

It was everything.

But as much as Daisy treasured that, she wanted more. She wanted to cause Piper’s laughter and hold her wild hands and protect her like she protected Daisy.

She wanted to kiss her. A lot.

And she really, really wanted to be her type.

But she wasn’t.

Someone else out there was, just waiting for Daisy’s girl.

And then she wouldn’t be Daisy’s girl anymore (she never was), she’d be someone else’s.

Daisy would rather be flung back out into space.

~*~

The only cure for a pining heart was ice cream and movies in bed. Only, Daisy couldn’t find any movies that interested her, so she settled on a show about an Asian family in Florida (she’d picked it because the featured guest looked so much like May, but this woman was smiling and peppy, so it couldn’t be her).

The ice cream had only just entered her mouth when she heard a voice at the door.

“Is that May?”

She whipped her head around, and there she was. The cause of her binging in all her short-haired glory, leaning against her doorway so naturally casual and grinning at her computer screen.

It took her a second to find her voice. And swallow her ice cream.

“You’d think so, but this lady is full out smiling.”

“So not May then.”

She nodded.

“Well I gotta see this anyway. Can I join you?”

She nodded again.

She scooched over, and Piper immediately began stealing her blankets before she’d even sat down.

“Hey, you’re worse than Jemma.” She complained, but she couldn’t stop from grinning at the thought of Piper being a blanket hog.

But if she didn’t stop thinking about Piper and how close she was, she’d internally combust.

“You’re eating ice cream, so your right to blankets doesn’t count.”

Piper did what could only be described as nestling and settled her head on Daisy’s shoulder.

“Fill me on what’s going on. Or what this show is. Never mind, May’s on screen.”

This woman was going to be the death of her.

Though the situation was kind of Daisy’s heaven, it still meant she was dead.

Or whatever. Her brain was short circuiting, so she couldn’t really think of anything besides the weight of Piper’s head on her shoulder, and how good snuggling was.

Friendly snuggling.

_Platonic_ snuggling.

Nope, she was done for.

“Damn.”

It was like Piper was saying her exact thoughts out loud.

“Look at May in those low rider jeans.”

Oh. Maybe not.

She went back to watching the show. She’d missed almost all of it. Oops.

“Damn.”

She was also impressed.

But then it was over and as the credits rolled and another video was already creeping its way into the watch next section, she went back to the matter at hand.

“So... You into May?”

“Who isn’t?” Piper snorted. It was adorable.

“I didn’t know you had a thing for older women,” she teased.

Piper just shrugged and stood up. As she stretched, Daisy finally seized her chance.

“So that’s your type? Older women?”

She turned around and her smile was a little nervous.

“Maybe. But I’m mostly into gay women.”

And then she was gone, and Daisy was melting.

She had a chance!

Then she froze—Piper probably didn’t know she was bi. From the time she’d known Piper, she’d only had interest in Lincoln and then been single.

No wonder she hadn’t caught on that Daisy liked her.

Well, she was going to change that, and soon.

~*~

She’s a coward.

She’d defeated countless nightmares, saved the planet on numerous occasions, even saved the future while she was in it, and still.

She’s a coward.

She’d had multiple chances since that fateful night of ice cream to tell Piper she was into her, but she hadn’t.

First there’d been people around, then people were shooting them during a mission, and then—when would the excuses end?

It simply came down to this—she was scared.

Just because Piper didn’t know this one fact about her didn’t mean that was the only thing keeping them apart. What if she told her, and she still didn’t want Daisy?

That was almost more unbearable than not knowing.

But the not knowing was driving her crazy. And people were noticing. Jemma kept asking her if she needed that bee sting injection (but she hadn’t been walked through by a ghost, thank you very much), and Mack said she needed a vacation.

Piper kept looking at her like she wanted to say something, but never did.

It had to stop.

So here she was, parked right outside Piper’s door. Pacing. Pacing this hall of eternal waiting and cowardice.

She still hadn’t knocked.

She had to keep reminding herself, it’s better to try even if it doesn’t turn out. Just say something so you can stop thinking about it. Just do it!

She did.

A mouse wouldn’t have been able to hear that knock, it was inaudible.

She knocked again.

“Hey Piper? It’s me. Can we talk?”

No answer.

Maybe she wasn’t loud enough.

Another, more insistent knock.

“Piper?”

Maybe she just didn’t _want_ to talk.

She was just about to knock again, because third time’s the charm maybe, when—

“Daisy?”

Piper was coming from the opposite end of the hall.

She wasn’t sure to be embarrassed that Piper had found her like this, or relieved that Piper’s absence was the only reason she hadn’t responded.

“What’s going on?” The short woman crossed her arms and cocked her hip. The look reminded Daisy so much of May’s “no nonsense” expression that she just blurted it out.

“I’m bi.”

Piper’s eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch.

“Okay? I mean, I’m all for you speaking in another language, but I don’t think we’re going to Spain for our next mission.”

“What?”

“And I know you said you were learning Spanish from Yo-Yo, but I don’t know if that’ll translate all that well, and—"

“Not lingual! Sexual—I mean—I’m bisexual.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Silence. Deep, awkward silence.

“And I like you.” She finally added, eyes glued to the floor. “A lot.”

She finally looked up. Piper was stunned.

“I mean, a _lot_.”

Still no reaction.

“I mean—"

She was stopped by warm hands lifting her chin and cupping her cheeks and lips colliding into hers with a desperation she hadn’t known existed.

It was better than coming home. It was like finding one.

“Thank god,” Piper finally said once they’d come up for air. She kissed her again, and again, and once more for good measure.

“Because I like you too. I actually kinda love you.”

And then Daisy hugged her, nose pressed to the crook of her neck. The world was suddenly so much wider, and brighter, and better.

“So… I guess that means I’m your type?”

She received a poke in the ribs for that, and she laughed but didn’t let go.

“You’ve always been my type.”

And then she did pull away, but only to kiss her girl (Daisy’s girl!) once more.

“Good. I kinda love you too.”

Their hands clasped together, and she couldn’t believe how much had just changed.

“Unfortunately, we still got a mission to do.”

Well, not everything.

“Fine, but I want hot chocolate once we get back.” She said as she tugged Piper with her away from the hall of eternal waiting and into the infinite world of possibilities.

Their hands were still intertwined.

“I’m so glad all my flirting finally paid off,” she joked, giddy on the knowledge someone loved her back.

Piper suddenly froze.

She froze too.

“What?”

“ _You_ haven’t been flirting with _me_ , _I’ve_ been flirting with _you_!”

“You’ve been flirting with me?!”


End file.
